The present invention relates to an inspection method in a bill processing machine or change paying machine, which may be used at a counter in a supermarket or a convenience store to store received bills and to reuse the stored bills as a change, wherein the method is used when the balance in the bill processing machine is checked, such as in changing a register operator.
In recent years, a bill processing machine or change paying machine in, such as a POS (point of sales) system, connected to a higher level apparatus to enable received bills to be reused as a change has been introduced into supermarkets and convenience stores together with coin processing machines.
Generally speaking, the bill processing machine has a mechanical function that picks up input bills, stores the bills in a bill storage, transmits input-bill information to an external higher apparatus, and also, in response to a change payment request from the external higher apparatus, transmits input-bill information for the stored bills and pays a corresponding amount of money as a change.
A main object of the introduction of such a bill or coin processing machines is to automate the payment and storage of money in order to reduce the burden on a register operator associated with the handling of cash in order to increase the efficiency of accurate calculation operations while eliminating errors in calculations.
In the conventional bill processing machine, to manage cash appropriately, an input port for the machine must be used to fill or set reserved bills for changes in the machine. This is because by inputting bills from the input port, the type and number of the bills and thus the balance in the bill processing machine can be determined to enable cash to be managed precisely.
In such a bill processing machine, however, the number of bills that can be input to the input port at a time is physically limited, so that the bills must be divided into a certain number of groups for input, thereby requiring a considerable amount of time to fill or store reserved bills. Thus, despite an instruction to use the input port to refill the reserved bills for changes, in order to reduce the time required to set the reserved bills in the bill storage, the bill processing machine may be opened to set the reserved bills directly in the bill storage. In addition, the bills stored in the bill storage may be "handled" directly to change the bills into a different type.
If reserved bills are set directly in the bill storage of the bill processing machine, there will be a difference between the theoretical balance for the type of money known by the bill processing machine and the cash actually stored in the machine. If, however, several persons take turns to operate the same register, the problem is when and by whom that error was caused, creating tense and undesirable personal relations. In order to clarify each operator's duty and responsibility, the theoretical balance and cash actually stored must be checked whenever a register operator is changed.
This invention is provided in view of these problems, and its object is to provide an inspection method in a bill processing machine, wherein bills stored in a bill storage is precisely inspected before a register operator is changed in order to simplify the handling of money and to clarify each operator's responsibility.